Black-yellow coalition

In Germany, a black-yellow coalition is a coalition between the Union and the FDP.
The term "black-yellow coalition" was unknown before 1972, as the FDP only adopted the color combination yellow/blue during the 1972 state election campaign in Baden-Württemberg.

Coalitions at the federal level

There were black-yellow coalitions at the federal level:

1961–1963 under Konrad Adenauer
1963–1966 under Ludwig Erhard
1982–1998 under Helmut Kohl
2009–2013 under Angela Merkel

From 1949 to 1956, the FDP also participated in federal governments with the CDU/CSU under Konrad Adenauer. However, the German Party and, from 1953 to 1956, the BHE were also part of the government, so these were not purely Christian Democratic and Free Democratic governments.

Coalitions at the state level

From 27 June 2017 to 28 June 2022, a black-yellow coalition governed North Rhine-Westphalia under Minister-Presidents Armin Laschet and Hendrik Wüst. This was the first black-yellow coalition at the state level since 2014. Currently, there is no black-yellow coalition at the state level, although a majority would be mathematically possible in Schleswig-Holstein.

Baden-Württemberg

1960–1966 Kurt Georg Kiesinger
1996–2005 Erwin Teufel
2005–2010 Günther Oettinger
2010–2011 Stefan Mappus

Bavaria

2008–2013 Horst Seehofer

Berlin

1953–1955 Walther Schreiber
1983–1984 Richard von Weizsäcker
1984–1989 Eberhard Diepgen

Hesse

1987–1991 Walter Wallmann
1999–2003 Roland Koch
2009–2010 Roland Koch
2010–2014 Volker Bouffier

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

1990–1992 Alfred Gomolka
1992–1994 Berndt Seite

Lower Saxony

1977–1978 Ernst Albrecht
1986–1990 Ernst Albrecht
2003–2010 Christian Wulff
2010–2013 David McAllister

Nordrhein-Westfalen

1954–1956 Karl Arnold
1962–1966 Franz Meyers
2005–2010 Jürgen Rüttgers
2017–2021 Armin Laschet
2021–2022 Hendrik Wüst

Rhineland-Palatinate

1951–1969 Peter Altmeier
1969–1971 Helmut Kohl
1987–1988 Bernhard Vogel
1988–1991 Carl-Ludwig Wagner

Saarland

1961–1970 Franz-Josef Röder
1977–1979 Franz-Josef Röder
1979–1985 Werner Zeyer

Saxony

2009–2014 Stanislaw Tillich

Saxony-Anhalt

1990–1991 Gerd Gies
1991–1993 Werner Münch
1993–1994 Christoph Bergner
2002–2006 Wolfgang Böhmer

Schleswig-Holstein

1951–1951
1958–1962 Kai-Uwe von Hassel
1963–1971 Helmut Lemke
2009–2012 Peter Harry Carstensen

Thüringia

1990–1992 Josef Duchač
1992–1994 Bernhard Vogel

Debate

During the television debate between Angela Merkel and Frank-Walter Steinmeier during the 2009 German federal election, Maybrit Illner asked Merkel about her coalition plans – with Illner referring to the black-yellow coalition as the "Tiger Duck Coalition" – in reference to the black-and-yellow-striped Janosch character the Tiger Duck. While many media outlets rejected this neologism, it is often used by critics of the coalition because of its mocking undertone.